The Little World

Ruritanians are, on the whole, a conservative people. They rarely throw over old forms or designs just to revel in novelty. The motto ” Neuheit Ist Scheit ” is ingrained in them. Thus they hold to traditional colour schemes for most of the aircraft in the RRAAF. In some cases this tradition has been the finish as supplied from the factory, though there have been exceptions where this would clash badly with other units.

They are also susceptible to suggestion and influence as long as their advisers can present the ideas in and old and slow form. This happened when the air force was being formed – the investigative commission team spent a lot of time in England and France and brought back influences from both.

Here is the first reconnaissance plane of the RRAAF – old A20 – repainted in the Mid-Brown/ Duck Egg green livery of the late thirties. They left the engine cowlings unpainted and polished them – not so much for show as to make it easier to clean oil leaks off them. There was some debate whether the plane’s lettering was white or Sky Grey, but as it was the only Heinkel 70 in the RRAAF , there was no need to give it a complex squadron code –  A20 was all the ID. needed. Actually, they didn’t even need that as it was also known as The Brown Thing.

Note: The A20 was a ruse de guerre – it suggested that there were 19 more of them hidden away somewhere. Possibly in the Heinkel factory…